In the nation's capital, everybody's talking about how the new Congress should fix the federal budget deficit and taxes, and the Republicans are talking about fixing health care. So, you might think these professional politicians must be reacting to voters' top concerns as reflected in the recent electoral earthquake. You'd be wrong. According to the latest CBS News poll, only 4% of respondents said the new Congress should concentrate on the budget deficit, 2% said taxes, and 14% said health care.
Meanwhile, all the pundits seem to agree that the new Congress will do nothing about the economy or jobs, although this is the top concern--by a very large margin--of those polled.
What Should New Congress Concentrate on in January?
Economy/jobs 56%
Health care 14%
Budget deficit 4%
War 2%
Immigration 2%
Education 2%
I don't think DC politicians are deaf, but both parties' ear trumpets seem to be turned in a different direction. Multinational Companies and Wall Street are enjoying boom times, and legislation that might create large numbers of domestic jobs and boost the real economy would be likely to reduce their profits and power.
Skeptic
Robert Waldman points out that a large majority of voters in the recent election favor tax increases to sustain Social Security. Even 59% of self-identified Republicans and 60% of self-identified Tea Partiers. But the policy elites are determined to do the opposite.